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COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 




Copyright, February, 1909 



The We^che^er Pres 

Rye. New York 



WESTCHESTER COUNTY 

JIND THE 

TOWN OF RYE 



(1 



AN ADDRESS BY 

A. OUTRAM SHERMAN 



(!] 



Delivered before 

THE WOMAN'S CLUB OF PORT CHESTER. N. Y. 

FEBRUARY 8, 1909 






LIBRARY Of CONGRESS 
Two Couies Received 

MAh 18 1^09 

CLASS O- AXc. ?i. 

-2.3 2.104 
COPY a. 



"No 1 Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change ; 
Thy pyramids built up with newer might, 
To me are nothing novel, nothing strange: 
They are but dressings of a former sight. 
Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire 
What thou dost foist upon us that is old. 
And rather make them born to our desire, 
Than think that we before have heard them told. 
Thy registers and thee I both defy. 
Not wondering at the present nor the past ; 
For thy records and what we see doth lie. 
Made more or less by thy continual haste: 
This I do vow, and this shall ever be, 
I will be true, despite thy scythe and thee." 

— Shapespeare's Sonnets. 



WESTCHESTER COUNTY 

AND THE TOWN OF RYE 



"^^^^-^HE subject, "Westchester County and the Town of Rye," 
■ j would furnish, had one the requisite knowledge, 
^^^^ material for a course of lectures, for a library of books 
wherein true romance and tragedy would have their 
part, the history of religious liberty and human freedom would 
be largely recounted and the story of America's struggle for 
independence told at length. 

Westchester lay between the Dutch and the English. Here 
the Puritan found the High Church Episcopalian and here they 
bitterly opposed each other. Here, midway between the spire 
of Trinity and the meeting houses of Connecticut, was founded 
a French colony at New Rochelle of liberal and enlightened 
Huguenots. Here Ann Hutchinson fled to escape her Puritan 
persecutors, and here the would-be aristocrats hoped to control 
princely domains, as lords of the manor, but could not overcome 
the growing power and intelligence of what, one of their number 
called "the lower order of mankind." * Here in Westchester 
County, in the Town of Rye, arose "one of the most remarkable 
boundary disputes on record." ** 

(a) "The remains of it" (the English Constitution), "however, will give the wealthy 
people a superiority, this time; but, would they secure it, they rnust banish all 
Schoolmasters and confine all Knowledge to themselves. This cannot be. TTie Mob bepns 
to think and reason. Poor Reptiles !" Gouverneur Morns to Mr. Penn. Dawson s West- 
chester County in the Revolution," p. 12. . ^ . , . . .v c. * 

(b) Report of the commissioners appointed to ascertain the boundary between the Mates 
of New York and Connecticut, April 9, 1856. Senate Document No. 165. "Baird s History 
of Rye," p. 105. 



When our country was first taken possession of, the settlers 
were accustomed to bound their territory about in this way: 
"A line from a bush heap to a pile of stones on the north, marked 
trees on the south, the blue sky and the two seas.'' Naturally 
claims conflicted and Yankees killed Quakers in Pennsylvania 
for years over their conflicting' claims to the Valley of Wyoming, 
and the Virginia legislature, after the Revolution, refused by 
one vote Washington's request ^ to reward a resident of West- 
chester County, New York, with $10,000 for his services in the 
Revolution, because he had written a pamphlet adverse to Vir- 
ginia's claims to a territory which he showed would include by 
the description, a part of the Arctic Circle and the rest of the 
hemisphere north of the north line of Georgia and west of New 
York, b 

I shall not attempt, therefore, in the short period allotted to 
me this afternoon, to go at length into any branches of so wide 
a subject, but refer to a few facts of interest, and some aspects 
of history a little out of the general or popular theory, and that 
you may have a confidence in the correctness of these statements 
greater than the mere publication of them by any individual, I 
wish to say that I am prepared to support every material fact, 
not from the deductions of historians but by reference to the 
testimony of the actors in the events themselves. 

(a) "Sir, can nothing be done in our Assembly for poor Paine? Must the merits and 
services of 'Common Sense' continue to glide down the stream of time unrewarded by this 
country? His writings certainly have had a p»«erful effect upon the public mind. Ought 
they not, then, to meet an adequate return . . . . " Washington to Madison, 
June 12, 1784 (similar letters to Patrick Henry and Rich. H. Lee). "The 
Writings of George Washington" (W. C. Ford), Vol. X., p. 393. "I have therefore to 
repeat, sir, that the sanction which your judgment gave to the propriety of rewardmg 
the literary services of Mr. Pavne led to an attempt in the House of Delegates for that 
purpose." Madison to Washington, August 12, i7^4- "Writings of Madison," Vol. II., 
p. 63: "I still hope something will be done for Paine. He richly deserves it; and it will 
give a character of littleness to our state if they suffer themselves to be restrained from 
the compensation due for his services by a paltry consideration that he opposed our riRht 
to the Western Country. Who was there out of Virginia who did not oppose it? Place 
this circumstance in one scale, and the effect his writings produced in uniting us in inde- 
pendence in the other, and say which preponderates. Have we gained more by his advocation 
of independence than we lost by his opposition to our territorial rights? Pay him the 
balance only." "Writings of Thomas Jefferson," Vol. IV., p. 17. 

(b) "Beginning at the cape or point of land called cape or point Comfort, thence all 
alons the sea coast to the northward 200 miles, and fvom said point or cane Comfort, all 




In the years 1640 and 1649 ^^e Dutch India Company pur- 
chased from the Indians all the territory between Norwalk and 
the North River; this comprehended most of Westchester 
County. The land was called Ubiequaeshook or Weckquaskeck. 
Gov. Peter Stuyvesant of the New Netherlands in 1650 came to 
a provisional arrangement with New England as to the boundary 
line between the Colonies, which began at the west side of Green- 
wich Bay, four miles from Stamford, and ran northerly to within 
ten miles of the Hudson River. This agreement was never 
sanctioned by the home governments or respected by the Eng- 
lish ; for settlers from Connecticut went as far as Eastchester, 
or Oost-dorp, and settled, the Dutch not objecting. A second 
conference occurred in 1663. In 1662 Charles II gave to Con- 
necticut all the land east and west between Massachusetts on 
the north and the sea on the south, between Narragansett Bay 
and the South Sea (meaning the Pacific Ocean). This may 
have left the Dutch Manhattan Island, but not much more. 

A few months afterward Charles got a generous fit again, 
and he gave his brother, the Duke of York, that part of the con- 
tinent east of Massachusetts now comprising New Brunswick 
and the State of Maine, also Long Island, which he had just 
given to Connecticut, "together with all the river called the Hud- 
son River and the land from the west side of the Connecticut 
River to the east side of Delaware Bay." He overlooked the 
Dutchman's claims and made his grant to his Connecticut sub- 
jects look like what the boys now call "a lemon." However, the 
Duke of York's man, Richard Nicolls, made the Dutch see that 
they were mistaken in thinking they had any rights, and had 
even called their land by a wrong name ; New was well enough 
but York looked better than Netherlands. Governor Nicolls had 
power, with three of his officers, to settle all boundary disputes, 
and the Connecticut Yankees came down to talk it over and they 
agreed that the line between the two, now English Colonies, 
should start from where the fresh water falls into the salt 
on the east side of the Mamaroneck River and run north-north- 

7 



west to the Massachusetts line. This line was presumed to, and 
they had agreed it should, run twenty miles to the eastward and 
parallel with the Hudson River. Thus our western boundary 
was described in 1664. 

When Rye was purchased by John Coe, Peter Disbrow, 
Thomas Stedwell and John Budd, who came from Connecticut 
(the last, at least, from near Rye, England^) it was established 
as an English Colony. In the year 1680 some of the inhabitants 
of Rye attempted to occupy and settle on land along the Hudson 
and complained to their Connecticut legislature that they were 
opposed. They not only did not get what they petitioned for, 
but on the new settlement the line was defined at about its 
present point on the Byram River, and the people of Rye found 
themselves turned over to New York. They refused to pay 
taxes for awhile in either colony and did not accept the situation 
until 173 1. This boundary has not, to this day, been definitely 
and satisfactorily fixed and a commission is now at work on it. 
In 183 1 when the United States Government purchased a part 
of Captain's Island for its light house it took a grant from both 
Connecticut and New York, as it was doubtful to which state 
the island belonged. New York claimed jurisdiction over it as 
a part of the Town of Rye down to 1883. Long Island Sound 
was called at one time The Devil's Belt. ^ The great original 
proprietors of Westchester County, were six in number. Rye, 
which included White Plains and Harrison, was never the pos- 
session of one man. 

Cortlandt Manor was owned by Stephen Van Cortlandt, and 
Philipseburgh Manor by Frederick Philipse, whose heirs lost 



(a) "John Budd, the elder, and Joseph Budd came to this country about the 
year 1632. On the records of London, is Joseph Budd's name, age 15, sailed for New 
England. They arrived in New Haven and John Budd's name occurs on the records of New 
Haven in 1639 as one of the first planters of the place. (New Haven Colonial Record, 
Vol. I., 7-425.) 'The Budd Family' (by Col. Enos Coble Budd, Press of F. W. Sonneborn, 
10 Warren st., New York, 1881), p. 4; "The regular line of descent from Rye, Sussex 
County, Rngland, in 1632, to Hartford, Conn.," Szc, id., p. 40. "Washington's Head- 
quarters at Morristown was given to one of the Ford family by judge Wm. Budd in con- 
sideration of improving the same, and Sussex County was named after old Sussex County 
in England." Id., p. 41. 

(b) On a map of e^rl^ 4ate in the possession of the writer it is so designated. 

8 



most of their holdings on account of their being loyalists in the 
Revolution. Fordham Manor was established by John Archer; 
Morrisania Manor w^s owned by the Morrises and part of it was 
confiscated on account of the loyalist tendencies of some of the 
family; Pelham Manor was purchased by Thomas Pell, and the 
Manor of Scarsdale was owned by Caleb Heathcote, most of 
whose heirs, the Delanceys, lost their land, the family being most 
active Tories. ^ 

Although the Dutch India Company purchased from the 
Indians about all Westchester County in 1640, as I have stated, 
actual settlers when they arrived purchased anew from the sav- 
ages. Thus John Richbell purchased his "Three Necks and 
twenty miles into the woods from the Westchester Path." This 
included Mamaroneck and, in fact, all the land between Rye and 
Pell's purchase. There is a most interesting document owned by 
Dodd Mead & Co., which gives the details of a dispute between 
subsequent owners of Richbell's necks, wherein much light is 
thrown on the feeling against the few rich men who were trying 
to buy up the county and the farmers who were seeking homes, 
free from rent charges to any landlord. There were eight 
plaintiffs, four of whom were Palmers, a family yet numerous 
in Mamaroneck, in this law suit decided in 1726, and the de- 
fendants were Jacobus Van Cortlandt and Adolph Philipse. 
These "lords of the manor" were defeated, but the farmers were 
not contented with this victory, and published the findings of 
the court and their contentions in parallel columns with the 
defendants testimony to prove apparently that somebody lied. 
I wish our county historical society could own this document. 
It was for sale for $300, so I was contented and thankful for a 
hasty reading of it which was kindly allowed me by the owners. 
The whole reason for the dispute over the title to the territory 
of White Plains is also largely explained in this document. 

Caleb Heathcote afterward obtained possession of much of 



Sabine) 



(a) "Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution," &c. (Lorenzg 
ne). Vol. I., pp. 363-372 ; "Public Papers of George Clinton," Vol. III., p. 3SS- 



Richbell's lands and added it to his Manor of Scarsdale, so called 
from the Heathcote home in England. It was a custom with 
the early fathers to attach to their new surroundings names that 
recalled the familiar scenes at their old homes across the seas. 
The preamble to an act of 1657 giving to New London its name 
states this as being "a commendable practice of ye inhabitants of 
all the colonies of these parts," and I would like to call attention 
at this point to what I believe is an error, and that is the state- 
ment ^ that the Byram River derived its name from an alleged 
circumstance, of which there is no proof, that the Indians used 
to come to the locality to buy rum. The true reason why the 
river, called by the Indians Armonck, was called by the English 
Byram or Bairam, was that on the northeast of Rye Port harbor 
in England was a rocky point called "Barham rocks," ^ and 
Thomas Brown from the English Rye owned seven lots along 
this river which he doubtless named, together with the point 
nearby, Barham or Byram. It is spelled differently in different 
deeds, &c. A rocky point is in the same location in both Rye Port 
harbors. If everywhere the Indians came to buy rum the name 
had attached, it would have been much more common. 

In the present Village of Rye is preserved, through the gen- 
erosity of a few of our public spirited citizens, '^ the old Square 
House which General Washington mentions as having sheltered 
him on two occasions. The old house by the Byram bridge was 
the place where La Fayette stopped in 1824 and is said to have 
scratched his initials on a pane of glass. From this house he 
sent a note of sympathy to Catherine Thomas, widow of Major 
General Thomas, who had died that year. ^ 

Until a few years ago the Town of Rye had standing along 
the Post Road from Mamaroneck River to Byram bridge at the 
end of each mile an old mile stone, six in all. I regret to say 

(a) "A History of the Town of Greenwich" (Daniel M. Mead, 1857), p. 56. 

(b) "The History and Antiquities of the Ancient Town and Port of Rye in the County 
of Sussex FKngland]'^' (by William Holloway, London, 1867), p. 348. 

(c) John E. Parsons, William H. Parsons, J. Howard VVhittemore, as a memorial to 
their grandfather, Ebenezer Clark. 

(d) See Baird's "History of Rye," pp. 147, 380. 

10 



that the one that stood in Port Chester about where the First 
National Bank building stands, has disappeared, but I hope is 
not destroyed and that an effort will be made to find it and have 
it set up in place again. The Town of Rye was the only town 
that of late years possessed a complete set of these stones. 
There is one on Third avenue in New York, around which an 
iron frame has been placed so that it shall not be touched, and 
it is treasured as a great relic. The twenty-fourth mile stone, 
opposite John Jay's gateway, I fortunately discovered, had been 
torn up two or three years ago and rescued it from destruction 
among a pile of stones. These mile stones were erected largely 
through the instrumentality of Alexander Hamilton, probably 
at the suggestion of Benjamin Franklin, v^^ho himself measured 
many miles of roads by a device he describes for counting the 
revolutions of his buggy wheel. * At the end of each mile Frank- 
lin would set up a mark and an ox team would follow along with 
men to set the stones. On March 9, 1774, the New York Provin- 
cial Government passed an act for the protection of mile stones. 
It states: "Whereas, The erection of mile stones, hands, pointers 
or any other monuments erected for the direction of travelers 
along the public road contribute greatly to the convenience of 
travelers and. whereas, a number of them have been put up in 
different parts of this colony now. therefore, &c." These mile 
stones were doubtless the ones erected in 1774 as they stood 
along the main thoroughfare from New England to New York. 
Washington and La Fayette happened to record one of their 
journeys along this road, but I believe that every public char- 
acter in history, active in the events that occurred throughout 
.this community, traversed this route many times, and from his 
weary horse's back many a dust begrimed patriot has counted 
these mile posts and read the numbered miles. I will read you a 
proof of this from a memorandum book lately found. It has lain 
unseen a century or more in an old house in New England. It is 



(a) "Home Life in Colonial Days" (by Alice Morse Earle, McMillan, 1898), p. 335, 
and "Stage Coach and Tavern Days" (same author and publisher, 1890), p. 353- 

11 



in the handwriting of my great grandfather, an ancestor of mine 
of whom, being an American, of course I am entitled to be very 
proud. It reads: "May 3, 1775, To expenses to Philadelphia in 
company with other delegates attended by militia from Stamford 
to Kingsbridge,"^ and April 4, I776,the entry shows that he again 
passed here on his way to the great meeting in Philadelphia to 
be appointed on the committee and to work for the adoption of 
Independence. On the i6th of September, 1774, Samuel and 
John Adams, Thomas Cushion and Robert T. Paine arrived in 
New Haven. ^ Roger Sherman called on them, but it does not 
appear that he proceeded with them to Congress that day, but 
these four passed here together and arrived at Kingsbridge on 
the 20th, guided by these mile stones along the way. Surely we 
should treasure these old monuments. An odd instance in rela- 
tion to the stone markers came to light a few years ago. The 
Rye Free Reading Room owns and occupies the old Purdy 
homestead in the village, in repairing which, a mile stone similar 
to those now standing, was found in the wall of a cellar window. 
This stone was made for the twenty-ninth mile from New York, 
which ends just over the Connecticut line. So doubtless Purdy 
took it home to utilize in his building rather than go beyond the 
jurisdiction of this colony. The Purdys were several of them 
supervisors and held other town offices. 

Westchester County's position, in regard to national inde- 
pendence and the war with the mother country, was peculiar in 
many respects. The first action was taken on the recommenda- 
tion of a committee of fifty-one appointed in New York City at a 
meeting held first at the coffee house on Wall street and after- 
wards at Fraunces Tavern. It must not be forgotten that at 
first even Washington hoped that the differences with the King 
could be settled without separation from England. The New 

(a) "May 6. — This afternoon arrived at New York from the eastward, on their way for 
Philadelphia, to attend the Continental Congress the Hon. John Hancock and Thomas Gush- 
ing, Esqs. ; Samuel Adams and Robert Treat Paine, Es<is. ; delegates from the I'rovjnce of 
Massachusetts Bay ; and the Hon. Eliphalct Dyer, Roger Sherman, Esq. and Silas Deane, 
Esq., delegates for the Colony of Connecticut." "Rivington's Gazetteer," May ii, 1775. 
(Moore's "Diary of the Revolution," V^ol. I., p. 75.) 

(b) "Thf Declaration of Independence Its History" (John H. Hazelton), p. 4. 

12 



York meeting- was called first by the merchants and men of 
power and importance, but the citizens generally insisted on 
being heard, and it is well they did. The chairman of the meet- 
ing could not have had his whole heart in the cause for he after- 
wards became a loyalist and had his property confiscated.* New 
York's delegation were the last to sign the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and only signed on July iSth.** This delay was due to 
the fact that they could not get authority from the Provincial 
Assembly. On May 31, 1776, John Jay writes: "I do not learn 
that a word has been said in our convention( meaning the Pro- 
vincial Congress) upon the subject of a Declaration of Inde- 
pendence;" but the people were ready if the politicians were 
not, for the "Committee of Mechanics in Union" addressed the 
Provincial Assembly thus : "For ourselves and our constituents, 
hereby publicly declare that, should you, gentlemen of our hon- 
orable Provincial Congress, think proper to instruct our most 
honorable delegates in Continental Congress to use their utmost 
endeavors in that august assembly to cause the United Colonies 
to become independent of Great Britain, it would give us the 
highest satisfaction; and we hereby sincerely promise to en- 
deavor to support the same with our lives and fortunes." To 
which the Provincial Congress replied : "that they could not 
then presume to instruct the delegates of the Colonies on the 
momentous question." Westchester County, by action in its 
different towns, replied to the circular letter of the committee of 
fifty-one from New York by choosing the delegates selected in 
New York to represent them also in Philadelphia. The people 
of Rye called a meeting at White Plains and appointed John 
Thomas, Jr., a brother of General Thomas of Rye Woods, and 
several others, to advise on the course to be adopted. They 
likewise recommended the endorsement of the delegates already 
appointed. Some of the persons assembled at White Plains 

(a) "Biographical Sketches of Loyalists," &c. (Sabine), Vol. II., p. 32, and Dawson's 
"Westchester in the Revolution," p. 10. 

(b) Signing as a whole state delegation. Thornton, of New Hampshire, sigfned on Novem- 
ber 4th. "The Declaration of Independence Its History," pp. 200, 207. 

13 



signed the resolutions and afterward withdrew their names. 
The Rector at Rye wrote a letter on the subject and finally be- 
came an outright Tory and went to Canada. 

The causes that influenced tlie people to make the final break 
with the old country are much more complicated than we gen- 
erally are led to believe. The preamble of the Declaration does 
by no means tell the whole story. We get the general idea at 
school that a heavy tax on tea was the main issue, but it was 
not a question of tax laws so much as of the navigation laws. 
American merchants were not allowed to import goods except 
from England and her colonies, but the practice had long been 
to import and smuggle in an inferior tea from Holland. English 
tea carried an export tax of a shilling a pound. This was not 
increased but reduced to 3 pence a pound, which was to be levied 
at the port on this side, as an import duty, and the smuggling of 
contraband goods England determined to stop. John Hancock 
signed the Declaration of Independence first. He was being 
sued by the Crown at that very time in the Admiralty Court for 
nearly half a million dollars for violations of the statutes. If 
independence was secured he not only won freedom of trade for 
his country, but saved himself from financial ruin. ^ 

Superior English tea with a tax of 3 pence was actually 
cheaper and more desired by the farmers of Westchester than 
the smuggled Holland article, but the merchants of Boston and 
New York had their grievances on this subject. Westchester 
County farmers had others and were ready to stand by them for 
freedom from all oppression. New York Province had no 
charter. It was governed by appointed representatives of the 
Crown. Large land ovvaiers called lords of the manor, not such 
in fact, smacked of feudal England. An aristocracy of the old 
colonial families was growing up, office was largely becoming 
in fact hereditary, and lastly the people, nine-tenths dissenters, 
Presbyterians, Quakers and of other persuasions, had been 

(a) "Writings of Thomas Jefferson," Vol. IV., pp. 302-3; Dawson's "Westchester County 
in the Kevolution," p. 8; "Loyalists of the American Revolution" (Historical Essay), Vol. I., 
pp. 8-9 and 13. ^ 

14 



tricked not only into a forced support of the English established 
church but property paid for by the contribution of dissenters 
for meeting houses and the support of their ministers was seized 
by the clergy. 

A flagrant instance of this occurred in Rye. Governor 
Fletcher with the help of Lewis Morris and Caleb Heathcote 
arranged the plans. The act of 1693, ^^^ ^ tax to support a 
minister, did not state what kind of a minister, and after its 
passage the governor interpreted it as meaning a minister of 
the established church, whereupon the Assembly, the next year 
passed an act interpreting the first to mean a minister of the 
people's choice, but the governor vetoed this. Col. Lewis 
Morris thus exultingly writes in 171 1 : "James Graham, Esq., who 
was then speaker of the Assembly, and had the drawing of their 
bills, prescribed a method of induction and so managed it that it 
would not do well for the dissenters, and but lamely for the 
Church, though it would do with the help of the governor — and 
that was all; but it was the most that could be got at that time, 
for had more been attempted the Assembly had seen through the 
artifice, the most of them being dissenters, and all had been 
lost." ^ 

Great strife and bitterness was engendered by this foolish 
action. Heathcote was a fine character and an able man. 
Colonel Morris said that the Church of England would have 
been better off had it never been attempted.'' The Presbyterians 
paid their tax and voluntarily supported a minister of their own 
choice beside, and two Presbyterian churches were built in Rye 
before the Episcopal Church was finished. "It was strongly sus- 
pected by the clergy when the Revolutionary War broke out," 
says Bolton, "that the Eastern Provinces were not only aiming 
at independence, but at the subversion of the church likewise." 
"The clergy," wrote Mr. Inglis, "used their influence to allay our 

(a) Bolton's "History of the Church in Westchester County," pp. xiv., xxii., 
and 319; see also "Civil Status of the Presbyterians in the Province of New York," Charles 
W. Baird, "Magazine of American History," October, 1879. 

(b) Baird's "History of Kye," p. 319. 

15 



heats, and cherish a spirit of loyalty among the people."^ Some 
clergymen were pulled out of their reading desks because they 
prayed for the King. 

Crown appointed officers, landed estates and established 
church livings were a great inducement to many to become 
Loyalists or Tories. New York was, therefore, the Loyalist 
stronghold and contained more than any other colony. This 
state furnished the Queen's Rangers, the New York Volun- 
teers, the Westchester Volunteers and De Lancey's Battalions; 
all Tory soldiers fighting against their countrymen. The De 
Lancey family furnished for active service Oliver Jr., James of 
New York, and James of Westchester, the latter was the famous 
commander of the Cowboys, who used to harass this county, 
driving off the cattle to New York, leaving children to starve for 
milk; another James of New York, John, son of Peter of West- 
chester, John Peter, and Stephen, commander of the New Jersey 
Volunteers, and Warren, who distinguished himself for bravery 
at the battle of White Plains against his country, and for his 
King. If their zeal and bravery had been for our country's cause 
Westchester could be proud of this family, ^ but now beside the 
site of the family mansion — 

"Where gentle Bronx clear winding flows 

The shadowy banks between, 
Where blossomed bell or wilding rose 

Adorns the brightest green, 
Memorial of the fallen great, 

The rich and honored line, 
Stands high in solitary state 

De Lancey's ancient pine." 

It is not for us now to judge harshly those who differed 
from the majority, who being reared under the English govern- 

(a) Bolton's "History of the Church in Westchester," p. xxii. 

(b) "Public Papers of George Clinton," Vol. III., p. 355- 

16 



ment, staid loyal to their training. Where was there a greater, 
or stronger patriot than Benjamin Franklin? Yet his own son 
was led a captive through Westchester and confined a prisoner 
in Connecticut, a rank Tory all through the war. One author- 
ity estimates that 25,000 Americans fought against their country. 
Previous to the Evacuation, and in September, 1783, upward of 
twelve thousand men, women and children shipped for Nova 
Scotia and the Bahamas, from New York, and I want to quote 
a passage here to you from a description which shows how much 
greater was woman's part in this tragedy: "Among the ban- 
ished ones thus doomed to misery were persons whose hearts 
and hopes had been as true as Washington's own; for, in the 
divisions of families which everywhere occurred, and which 
formed one of the most distressing circumstances of the conflict, 
there were wives and daughters who, although bound to Loyal- 
ists by the holiest ties, had given their sympathies to the right 
from the beginning; and who now, in the triumph of the cause 
which had had their prayers, went meekly — as woman ever 
meets a sorrowful lot — into hopeless interminable exile." ^ 

The great drama in our country's early history, the struggle 1 
for independence, was staged upon the whole Atlantic border \ 
from Boston to Georgia. The curtain rose upon the first act at 
Lexington and revealed the thrilling scenes of Marion's midnight 
raids upon the enemy from the southern swamps, but interludes 
were frequent and often the actors left the stage at these places, 
but in bleeding Westchester County the curtain never fell 
throughout the long-drawn years of war; when the greatest 
actors, the chi^f commanders of the armies, retired to other 
stations, minor forces clashed and warred here, and if they rested 
upon their arms awhile, a horde of fierce desperadoes fought and 
pillaged all alike, until ruin and desolation marked this fair 
county. The "neutral ground" it was called, across which con- 
tending armies glared at one another and made sallies back and 

(a) "Loyalists of American Revolution," pp. 438-444, 70, 91. 

17 



forth until the inhabitants, then mostly, the young, the aged and 
the women, lost all sensation except fear and dread. The lines 
of the British were at Kingsbridge and the Americans at Byram 
River. The Cowboys and the Skinners preyed upon the inhab- 
itants, their homes were ruined, the furniture plundered or 
broken, their cattle were gone, hay was allowed to rot in the 
fields, the very roads were overgrown with grass. This condi- 
tion was so described by a resident in 1777. ^ That year Judge 
Thomas was captured in the old house you may see still 
standing but falling to pieces near Harrison avenue. He was 
carried to New York and imprisoned in the Provost prison soon 
to die and be buried in Trinity churchyard. The next year his 
son, then Col. Thomas Thomas, was captured in the house in 
Harrison, a spy bringing the news that he was sleeping there 
that night. Lieut. Col. Simcoe marched all night with Em- 
merick's and the Queen's Rangers and surrounded the Thomas 
house by daybreak. One shot was fired from the window and 
killed a man by the side of Simcoe. The house was forced and 
officers shut the doors of the different rooms to prevent the 
irritated soldiers from avenging their unfortunate comrade. 
The man who fired the shot was the only person killed, but 
Thomas ran upstairs and stepped out of a window onto a piazza 
and sprang over the soldiers who were below; jumping over 
some fences he would have certainly escaped, notwithstand- 
ing most of Emmerick's riflemen fired at him, had not an Hussar 
leaped after him and cut at him with his sword (which he 
crouched from and luckily escaped) when he surrendered. 
Thomas escaped from Long Island. He was charged with 
breaking his parole, but he was in charge of an officer when he 
escaped and therefore not under parole. He got over to New 
York and one of his adventures was getting under a hogshead 
upon the upturned bottom of which a faithful American woman 

(a) Bolton's "History of Westchester" (1848), Vol. I., pp. xvl., xvii. 

18 



spread a bushel of salt, so that the searching officers did not stop 
to examine the hogshead thinking it full of salt. ^ 

Col. Thomas' brother was the John Thomas, Jr., who was 
the head of the committee at the White Plains meeting. The 
colonel became a major general. He was fighting constantly 
and representing the needs of Westchester County to the gov- 
ernment. At the battle of White Plains he held an important 
command and protected the transfer of ammunition. He died 
in 1824 and lies buried with all his hopes, six children, who pre- 
ceded him in death, a few feet from the house where through the 
bullets of Emmerick's riflemen he tried to escape the enemy. 
Here, the year before, the enemy had come and captured his aged 
and patriotic father, leading him away to die within forty days 
in the fearful Provost. In the year 1849 ^^^s grand nephew, laid out 
in small farms, and filed a map of the estate of the Rye Woods ^ 
north of Harrison avenue, and the lane through which the 
British had twice marched th'at extended from Harrison avenue 
to his door and to his tomb, his nephew called "Thomas street." 
It was extended to Westchester avenue some years later and the 
name changed to Lincoln avenue. Think of it — such associa- 
tions — such a noble life lived and risked and ended here, and 
posterity did not know the meaning of the name. Ladies, I 
want to see you join in an effort to restore the name of Thomas 
to this historic road. Let us find some other fitting memorial 
to our immortal Lincoln whose name should never be used to 
dim unnecessarily the fame belonging to a noble patriot and 
soldier. 

The majority of mankind (and I trust this audience will 
understand that I realize and am conscious of the fact, so often 
stated that mankind embraces woman), a great majority, I say, 
live upright and good lives from the beginning and are entitled 

(a) Simcoe's "Militaiy Journal" (1844), pp. 92. i03- 321; s-^e Col. John Bcatty, 
commissioner of prisoners in "Public Papers of. George Clinton, War of the Revolution 
Series," Vol. V., pp. 212, 221. 

(b) "Map of the Property of Thomas T. Ferris, in the Town of Harrison, Westchester 
County, the late homestead of Major General Thomas Thomas, surveyed October, 1848, by 
Stephen Brown (of PeekskilD." Map No. ^7^. Register's office, White Plains, N. Y. 

19 



to whatever reward is prepared for the just, but to be distin- 
guished above others it is necessary to be, not alone upright, but 
also to occupy a conspicuous position during life. Such a posi- 
tion however carries with it care and criticism and a less placid 
and agreeable existence, so it is well to render unto those who 
"bore the whips and scorns of time" undaunted while accom- 
plishing most in their generation, homage ever, and preserve and 
recount often their achievements, so that the present generation 
may be stimulated to noble efforts, by examples from the past 
and may be supported through criticism and discouragement 
with the knowledge that they will be remembered and applauded 
some day for the purity of their hearts and sacrifice of their com- 
fort to noble purposes, believing too, that if success shall crown 
their efforts they will live in the memory of posterity. 

There is also another reason, beside duty to them and profit 
to ourselves, why we should dwell upon the noted characters of 
the past and especially on any that belong particularly to our 
own community. Among the vast multitude of living men, 
among the multitude of multitudes who have lived, infinitesi- 
mally few in proportion are those who have risen far above the 
high average of humanity, so that we may well be proud if we 
can claim any of this exalted few as more particularly our own, 
or can attach to our community any associations with the great. 
The truth of all this was realized where "Rival cities fought for 
Homer dead through which the living Homer begged his bread." 
General Putman, that picturesque character of the Revolution, 
was, I saw by the local paper, claimed as a Sawpit hero and the 
claim is correct. Greenwich has endeavored to appropriate him 
as her own. His history is too well known and too long for me 
to go into now, but I merely want to say to Greenwich that the 
General would prefer to have his exploits here, rather than what 
he did in their town, support his fame, for he fought in Rye and 
ran away in Greenwich. 

This is a great year for centennial anniversaries. Poe, the 

20 



poet, lived in Westchester County, and though his residence has 
now been included in New York's extended boundaries, we still 
have in the county and in the Town of Rye a spot hallowed by 
his poetic presence. We have his "dim Lake of Auber, In the 
Ghoul-haunted Woodland of Weir." He used to take long ex- 
cursions into the country and it is very probable that the claim is 
well founded that if you walk south along the tide-water creek 
back of Lawrence's Hotel, just this side of Mamaroneck, you 
will find a scene which fits his description in Ulalume — 

"We passed to the end of the vista 

But were stopped by the door of a tomb, 

By the door of a legended tomb." 

The spot with the "cypress alley" is the Guion burial ground 
beside the water. There is a right of way into it from the Post 
Road and it is a most romantic and picturesque scene. 

There is a grave and a monument in this county, and the 
earth was shoveled o'er the dead one hundred years ago next 
June. This audience knows the dead man's name, but I believe 
few of you know the true history of the man who is one of the 
great characters of the world, and I am going to read you now 
extracts from some letters that were written to him and let the 
writers testify before you as to his true character and his 
achievements. 

"September lo, 1783. Dear Sir — If you will come to this 
place, and partake with me, I shall be exceedingly happy to see 
you. Your presence may remind Congress of your past services 
to this country; and if it is in my power to impress them, com- 
mand my best services with freedom, as they will be rendered 
cheerfully by one who entertains a lively sense of the importance 
of your works, and who with pleasure, subscribes himself 
"Your sincere friend, 

"G. Washington."" 

(a) "The Writings of George Washington" (W. C. Ford), Vol. X., p. 317. 

i .'■• 21 



"March i8, 1801. 

"You expressed a wish to get a passage to this country in 
a pubhc vessel. Mr. Dawson is charged with orders to the 
captain of the Maryland to receive and accommodate you back 
if you can be ready to depart at such short warning. * * * j a^jjj 
in hopes you will find us returned generally to sentiments worthy 
of former times. In these it will be your glory to have steadily 
labored, and with as much effect as any man living. That you 
may long live to continue your useful labors and to reap the 
reward in the thankfulness of nations, is my sincere prayer. 
Accept assurances of my high esteem and affectionate attach- 
ment. 

"Thomas Jefferson." * 

Then President. 

"September 18, 1794. 

"It is unnecessary for me to tell you how much all your 
countrymen, I speak of the great mass of the people, are inter- 
ested in your welfare. They have not forgotten the history of 
their own Revolution, and the difficult scenes through which they 
passed; nor do they review its several stages without reviving in 
their bosoms a due sensibility of the merits of those who served 
them in that great and arduous conflict. The crime of ingratitude 
has not yet stained, and I trust never will stain, our national 
character. You are considered by them, as not only having ren- 
dered important services in our own Revolution, but as being on 
a more extensive scale, the friend of human rights, and a distin- 
guished and able advocate in favor of public liberty. To the wel- 
fare of" "the Americans are not and cannot be indifferent. 

Of the sense which the President has always entertained of your 
merits and of his friendly disposition towards you, you are too 
well assured to require any declaration from me. 



(a) "Writings of JeiTerson," Vol. VIII., p. i8. 

22 



"With great esteem and respect consider me personally 
your friend, 

"James Monroe." ^ 
Benjamin Franklin/ for thirty years his intimate friend, 
Samuel Adams, ^ James Madison, ^ Robert Morris, Chancellor 
Livingston, * R. H. Lee, Col. Laurens, Gen. Greene and Dicker- 
son, can also be quoted in endorsement of this man's title to honor 
and greatness— and yet. today, one hundred years after his 
death, before this intelligent audience I hesitate to speak his 
name. Before I do, I want first to show by some of his own 
words the gentleness of his spirit, the purity of his soul : 



can never Took back I^ fhl Z'"''°%' J?^' ^ "- P" ,^96- "The citizens of the United States 
of other di^Hnm,ifhi^ P ^^■^.^^'"l °^ *^^"" °^" revolution, without remembering, with those 
them in the r ffr!^^t ^^'"vk"' /''^u "^'"^^ °i Thomas Paine. The services which he rendered 
era^d whilst thev^^rnnHn ''^f '^ ^^^^ I"""^^. ^" impression of gratitude which will never be 
Kmes Monroe's l^P«^rt„Vl° "T?"^ ^^^ character of a just and generous people." From 

"Wrhings°or%'mes"Mon?oe?Vo?"L:"p^.%°6.' ''^""^^ ^"^^^^' ^^"^' ^"^^""^^^ '' ''''' 
of AU7'V\:^e'wVonwaT)!Tol.^?V^^ J°^" ^'^^'°"^' ^°'- '^- P' ''' • "^"''"^^ 

your^adoofed' ronnf^ frequently with pleasure reflected on your services -to my native and 
ffic mind anH^l7Vt, """^ ^S"""]?" ^^"'?, f""^ yo"^ 'Crisis' unquestionably awakened the 
I therefore V.t^^J^H ^ P^°P'^ '"""^'y, *-° S^" ^°' ^ declaration of our national independence. 
X therefore esteemed you as a warm fnend to the liberty and lasting welfare of the human 
Adams," Vol'. IV., p 4,3 ^"*'' N°veniber 30, 1802. "The Writings of Samuel 

vour^1Lo?nf^'?hr'^' ^,u\ ^' '784- .To Gen. Washington. Dear Sir: The sanction given by 
Sense' has Ipd tn. \J^ f° "^ desire of remunerating the genius which produced 'Common 
that the merftJnf h.^ VT ^^^ ^regislature for the purpose .... Should it finally aopear 

he snirit of TnH^LnH ^"■' Tu°'^ wr.tmgs have so much contributed to infuse and foster 
beneffcenre th^ w^M "^'^^ 'l" ^u^ F^°^\'' of America, are unable to inspire them with a just 
^rrfitn^e f; M • f' *i " %u^ ^''?';^^' .^i'.' ^'^« "^ ^s little credit for our policy as for our 

thf S^.t. , particular. The wish of Mr. Paine to be provided for by separate acts of 

t mfih L?n t ^^'i" -^^ Congress, is, I think, a natural and just one. In the latter case 
likrihP ri^nrn.^f .1"!,° f^^ '^f^'^'' °^ ^ mercenary writer. In the former, it would look 
bv Mr P^ nl ^„ Jl,f ? k"^ ^T voluntary services. Upon the same principle, the mode wished 
VV.1t' ^ q ^qI *°c^^ preferred by the States themselves." "Writings of James Madison," 
r^L '• PP.'r -f^' c -ru ^'1? ■^^J° *^« voluntary nature of Paine's services, ^foncure D. 

Th^^t^ P ■ " r°p 7^°™^^ Paine" (Putnam, 1S92), Vol. 1., pp. 205-211, and "Writings of 
Ihomas Paine (Putnam, 1902), Vol. IV., p. 430. «-r j . s, 

(e) "Life of Thomas Paine" (Conway), Vol. I., pp. ,82, 193, 195; letters to Paine from 
>J^"\rr.^^"f ^"1 Col. Laurens in "A Friend of Rhode Island and the Union," "Providence 
Gazette of February i, 1783 (Lenox Library): "February 27.— The pamphlet entitled 

Common sense is indeed a wonderful production. It is completely calculated for the 
meridian of .\orth America. The author introduces a new system of politics, as widely 
ditterent froni the old, as the Copernican system is from the Ptolemaic. The blood wantonly 
spilt by the lintish troops at Lexington, gave birth to this extraordinary performance, which 
contains as surprising a discovery in politics as the works of Sir Isaac Newton do in 
philosophy. This animated piece dispels, with irresistible energy, the prejudice of the mind 
against the doctrine of independence, and pours in upon it such an inundation of light and 
truth, as will produce an instantaneous and marvellous change in the temper — in the views 
and feelings of an American," .... "Constitutional Gazette," February 24, 1774. 

Frank Moore s Diary of the Revolution," Vol. I., p. 208, and "Patrick Henry's Life," &c . 
Vol. I., p. 371. 



23 



"To Mrs. Few, daughter of Commodore Nicholson, on her marriage he wrote: 

"Though I appear a sort of wanderer, the married state has 
not a sincerer friend than I am. It is the harbour of human life, 
and is, with respect to the things of this world, what the next 
world is to this. It is home; and that one word conveys more 
than any other word can express. For a few years we may 
glide along the tide of youthful single life and be wonderfully 
delighted; but it is a tide that flows but once, and what is still 
worse, it ebbs faster than it flows, and leaves many a hapless 
voyager aground. I am one, you see. that have experienced the 
fate I am describing. I have lost my tide; it passed by while 
every thought of my heart was on the wing for the salvation of 
my dear America, and I have now as contentedly as I can, made 
myself a little bower of willows on the shore that has the solitary 
resemblance of a home. Should I always continue the tenant 
of this home, I hope my female acquaintance will ever remember 
that it contains not the churlish enemy of their sex, not 
the cold inaccessible hearted mortal, nor the capricious tem- 
pered oddity, but one of the best and most afifectionate of their 
friends." * * * * 

"When we contemplate the fall of Empires and the extinc- 
tion of nations of the ancient world, we see but little to excite 
our regret than the mouldering ruins of pompous palaces, mag- 
nificent monuments, lofty pyramids, and walls and towers of the 
most costly workmanship. But when the Empire of America 
shall fall, the subject for contemplative sorrow will be infinitely 
greater than crumbling brass or marble can inspire. It will not 
then be said, here stood a temple of vast antiquity, — here rose 
a Babel of invisible height, or there a palace of sumptous ex- 
travagance; but here, ah painful thought! the noblest work of 
human wisdom, the grandest scene of human glory, the fair 
cause of freedom rose and fell ! Read this and then ask if I 
forget America?"^ 

(a) "Writings of Thomas Paine" (Conway), Vol. IV., pp. 433-S- 

24 



I was led to mention to you all this because in opening 
Bolton's history of Westchester County at this man's name, 
I read two pages of the worst of slanders, which Bolton 
had copied from the writings of one who was at the time of this 
man's death a defendant in an action for libel for printing some 
of these very falsehoods; at the death of his adversary he lied 
without fear. Bolton even recounts one of the noblest acts ever 
performed by man in a way to make it appear a crime, and, as I 
read, I thought, "you know the truth, why should these slanders 
stand uncontradicted?" Then I recalled another fact; Robert 
Fulton was his friend and he aided Fulton in his invention that 
we are to celebrate the anniversary of so soon. I turned to his 
will. It happened to be the same date one hundred years ago to 
a day, January i8, 1809. "The last will and testament of me, the 
subscriber, Thomas Paine, reposing confidence in my Creator, 
God, &c., author of 'Common Sense,' 'The Crisis,' 'The Rights of 
Man,' &c." ^ "I will make my confession of faith," he wrote 
when death seemed approaching; "and I do this with all that 
sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man communi- 
cates with itself. I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope 
for happiness beyond this life. 

"I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious 
duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring 
to make our fellow-creatures happy." ^ 

My friends, I shall not mention more on the one subject that 
has been attached to this man's name, to the exclusion of all else. 



(a) "Writings of Thomas Paine" (Conway), p. 507. Recorded Surrogate's office N. Y. Co. 

(b) "The^ Age of Reason," Part I., Chap. I. "Writings of Thomas Paine" (Conway), 
IV., p. 21. "'Above all, Paine was a profoundly religious man— one of the few in our 
Revolutionary era of whom it can be said that his delight was in the law of his Lord, and 
in that law he did meditate day and night. Conseijuently, he could not escape the imme- 
morial fate of the great believers, to be persecuted for unbelief — by believers." In these truly 
amazing words does Mr. Conway sum up (II. 404) the result of his patient and long- 
continued research into the life and writings of Thomas Paine. Amazing wc call them, 
because they will certainly amaze: they express the e.xact contradictory of what n^rly 
everybody believes about the author of 'Rights of Man' and 'The Age of keason.' Amazing 
they are again, because in spite of that almost universal mis.iudgment they are when 
properly understood emphatically true. Put first let us heartily thank Mr. Conway for this 
thoroughly excellent piece of work. It may almost be considered the first Life of Paine. 
What has been published already under that title has been scarcely more than mere raw 
material of a biography, or. worse still, deliberate, impudent and malicious slander," &c. 
"The Churchman," July 23, 1892. 

25 



but I would like to recount some of his other marvelous achieve- 
ments, not things we suppose from circumstances to be his 
achievements, not from his own claims, but his, from indisputa- 
ble positive evidence existing in spite of the most malignant 
enemies. I have spoken of Robert Fulton. He was experi- 
menting with a submarine boat on the Seine in 1797 and Thomas 
Paine then in Paris, was his constant advisor and friend, for 
Paine had discussed the subject ten years before. How do we 
know? Henry, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the first American 
steamboat experimenter, records the fact that he told Fitch, the 
man who made the unsuccessful steamer on which Fulton had 
ridden, that he, Fitch, was not the first man to think of this 
plan, but that Thomas Paine had, while at his house in 1778, 
spoken to him on the subject, but both Henry and Paine 
agreed, as they had never published their plans, to leave the 
whole credit to Fitch, and Fitch publicly expressed his gratitude 
to Paine. Fulton never claimed anything other than successful 
application of the principle. 

A remarkable thing is that Paine's biographer in 1892 re- 
marks "Paine contemplated a turbine application to the wheel." 
Since that date a turbine has been perfected.^ Paine was the first 
to build an iron bridge, for which he received a patent in Eng- 
land. England has within two years adopted an old age pension 
system, the plan of which was entirely developed and recom- 
mended by Paine in his "Rights of Man," for which England 
made him an outlaw and had her war vessels patrol the seas to 
capture him. 

Paine experimented with gun powder, exploding it in small 
quantities, to make power, the very principle on which the gaso- 
line engine is run today; ^ but these experiments' were the man's 
amusements. His political writings were his great achieve- 
ments. Benjamin Rush says: "They burst from the press with 

(a) "Life of Thomas Paine" (Conway), Vol. II., p. 280. 

(b) Id., Vol. I., pp. 240-1. "Writings of Thomas Paine" (Conway), Vol. IV., p. 438; 
"History of the Growth of the Steam Engine," pp. 252, 253. 

26 



an effect that has rarely been produced by type and paper in any 
age or country." ^ Gen. Lee said : "He has genius in his eyes," ^ 
and "I own he has convinced me." Joscpli Hawley writes 
(February i8, 1776, to Eldridge Gerry) : "I have read the 
pamphlet, entitled, 'Common Sense, Addressed to the Inhab- 
itants of America,' and every sentiment has sunk into my well- 
prepared heart." "^ Franklin said: "It has had a prodigious 
effect."^ Ramsay the historian said: "He deserves a statue of 
gold." ^ Washington said: "It contains sound doctrine and un- 
answerable reasoning," and, "had a powerful effect." ^ John 
Adams writes to his wife : "I sent you a pamphlet entitled 
'Common Sense,' written in vindication of doctrines, which there 
is reason to expect, that the further encroachments of tyranny 
and depredations of oppression will soon make the common 
faith." ^ That brilliant woman, after the receipt of the pamphlet, 
wrote: "'Common Sense,' like a ray of revelation, has 
come in season to clear our doubts and fix our choice." ^ 
John W inthrop said : "If Congress should adopt its sentiments, 
it would satisfy the people." ' "Colonel Gadsden brought the 
first copy of 'Common Sense' into Congress March 8th," says 
Hazelton in his late history, "and boldly declared himself in 
favor of Independence." The members had no thought of it 
and his statement came like an "explosion of thunder."^ 
Adam's "Life of Gallatin" says : "It is now almost forgotten 
that Thomas Paine in 1787, before he went to Paris, was a fash- 
ionable member of society, admired and courted as the greatest 



(a) "Declaration of Independence Its History" (John H. Hazelton), pp. 406-7. 

(b) "Letters of John Adams Addressed to His Wife" (by Charles F. Adams ,iS6i), 

Vol. I., p. 105. "Declaration of Independence Its History," p. 70. 

(c) Id., p. 49; "The Life of John Randolph of Roanoke" (Garland, 1855), p. 52. 

(d) "Works of Benjamin Franklin," Vol. IX., pp. 367, 372. 

(e) "Declaration of Independence Its History," p. 89. 

(f) "The Writings of George Washington" (Ford), Vol. III., p. 396; Vol. IV., p. 5. 

(g) "Letters of John Adams Addressed to His Wife," Vol. I., p. 84. 
(h) "Declaration of Independence Its History," p. 50. 

(i) Id., p. 50. 

(j) Id., p. 88. See Conway's "Life of Paine," Vol. I., p. 78; "Rev. John Drayton's 
Memoirs," &c., p. 172. 

27 



literary genius of his day." His "Rights of Man" had a like 
efifect in England, A bitter enemy of Paine writes in 1843* 
"It is idle to deny that Paine made an impression in Great 
Britain. There is abundant proof that he did. His pamphlet 
was read in the streets of London, at Strawberry Hill, in palaces 
and in gin shops, by old and young, by rich and poor." Another 
man who slandered him admits "that in factory towns in Eng- 
land, Paine was considered by the ignorant as an apostle of 
freedom." The people used to sing "God Save Great Thomas 
Paine, his 'Rights of Man' proclaim from Pole to Pole." ^ The 
House of Lords has lately adopted as the law of the realm what 
the ignorant applauded over a hundred years ago. 

Bolton says "he was a companion of the detested Robes- 
piere and was on the trial of the innocent Louis XVL" 

He had been elected in France by four different Departments 
to represent them in their government. The terrible madness 
had seized the French. The King was to be tried, with the mob 
it was: "Crucify! Crucify him!" as with the mob of old. Paine, 
though he knew that he took his life in his hand, stood before 
those murderers and declared in effect: "Kill the King! Kill the 
King! But save the man. He did not make himself a King. 
Why kill him for it? He was the friend of America and I plead 
for his life as our friend." The story is long and dramatic. 
Paine was imprisoned for nearly a year and only by a chance 
escaped death. *= "The companion of Robespiere!" He was the 
first and only man who dared, while Robespiere was supreme, to 
look him and death in the face and stand up for right. "Greater 
love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his 
friend." Yet Bolton distorts a glory into a crime with a sneer. 
Inventor, and patriot of the world, was he not a poet? Listen 
to this: 

(a) "Address by John Alberger," 1843. (Contains a repetition of Cheetham's libels, as 
facts.) 

(b) James Cheetham — in the preface to his slanderous edition of "Paine's Life;" as to 
the character of Cheetham and his book, see Conway's "Life of Paine," and "Life of Paine" 
(by G. Vale), p. 163, &c. 

(c) Conway's "Life of Paine," Vol. II., Chap. i. 

28 



WHAT IS LOVE? 

'Tis that delightsome transport we can feel 

Which painters cannot paint, nor words reveal, 

Nor any art we know of can conceal. 

Canst thou describe the sunbeams to the blind, 

Or make him feel a shadow with his mind? 

So neither can we by description shew 

This first of all Felicities below. 

When happy Love pours magic o'er the soul, 

And all our thoughts in sweet delirium roll ; 

When Contemplation spreads her rainbow wings, 

And every flutter some new rapture brings; 

How sweetly then our moments glide away, 

And dreams repeat the raptures of the day: 

We live in ecstacy, to all things kind, 

For Love can teach a moral to the mind. ^ 

The name of Rye is of great antiquity; before the Conquest 
it was written Rie or Rhie. Some derive it from the French 
word Rey, meaning a ford, and cite the fact that Queen Elizabeth 
wrote in 1573 of "bending toward the Rye" on her way toward 
Dover, meaning the ferry which was at Rye, but the concensus 
of opinion derives the name from Rie — old French — for a bank 
of the sea. '' 

On this continent, until the coming of the European, man 
ran in primeval forests like the brute, the record of one, multi- 
plied by the number of his days, giving the whole story of his 
life so that 

"History not wanted yet, 
Leaned on her elbow, watching time, whose course, 
Eventful, should supply her with a theme." 



(a) For remaining verses and other poems see "Writings of Thomas Paine" (Conway). 
Vol. IV. 

(b) "History of the Town and Port of Rye [England]" (Halloway), p. j. 

29 



but meanwhile, on the southern coast of England, there jutted 
into the Channel Sea a rocky hill inhabited by a hardy race that 
furnished history with a theme eight hundred years or more ago, 
for early in the history of the English people, the waves that 
tossed about their island home, bore often many cruel enemies 
to prey upon the dwellers of the unguarded coast, but bands, of 
the bravest of the land, stationed themselves at the most ex- 
posed portion of the shore, that lying nearest the European 
enemy, and building rude ships ever patroled the Channel Sea, 
the sentinels and watch-guard of their home. 

These settlements known as the "Cinque Ports" were hon- 
ored above all communities in the kingdom, as the birthplace and 
home of the English navy, and to this day their representatives 
walk on either side of the King at his coronation, in recognition 
of the fact that they were ever the protectors of England. 

This honor the Five Ports have held, "till man's memory 
runeth not to the contrary," for in the reign of Edward the Con- 
fessor, in the year 1050, one of them is spoken of as "Ye ancient 
towne of Rye." Nearby one of its sister Ports was known as 
"Hastings." 

Early in 1600 some of the hardy inhabitants of Rye and 
Hastings came to America to seek new homes undaunted by 
strange and savage foes. 

They purchased from the aborigines three tracts of land: 
Manursing Island, Poningoe on the mainland, and Apawamis to 
the westward, and ever mindful of the precious history of their 
ancient dwelling place they called Manursing Island, Hastings, 
and Poningoe and Apawamis, Rye, and when asking for a grant 
of these lands this reserva4:ion was appropriate : "Always reserv- 
ing out of this our present grant all such fir trees and pine trees, 
or roots as or shall be fit to make masts or to make planks or 
knees for the use of our royal navy only." 

In Rye Records Liber A. (now unfortunately lost) appears, 
under date of July 26, 1662, this "Agreement and Orders" : "We 
do agree that for our land bought on the maynland, called in the 

30 



Indian Poningoe, and in English Biaram land, lying between the 
aforesaid Biaram River and the Blind Brook, bounded east and 
west with these two rivers, and on the north with Westchester 
path, and on the south with the sea, for a plantation, and the 
name of the town to be called Hastings, 

"And now lastly wc have jointly agreed that he that will 
subscribe to these orders, here is land for him, and he that doth 
refuse to subscribe hereunto we have no land for him." 

It was ordered by the General Court of Assembly, holden 
at Hartford, May ii, 1665: "That the villages of Hastings and 
Rye shall be for the future conjoined and made one plantation, 
and that it shall be called by the appellation of Rye, and that 
Mr. Gold" and others "are appointed to go and settle the differ- 
ences between the inhabitants of Hastings and Rye." They 
must have succeeded in their mission, for in the Probate records 
of the following year, in Fairfield County, we find that, "John 
Budd Sen. of Rye sells his lands, divided by agreement of the 
men of Hastings, now called Rye, to George Kniffen of Strat- 
ford, the house being situated in the town formerly called 
Hastings." 

Thus by authentic record does the history of our town go 
back, generation before generation, like links in an unbroken 
chain, does it stretch backward; beyond the birth of America, 
which stands as a modern incident on its tabulation of events, 
back past the discovery of the Western hemisphere, backward 
still backward through the history of England, until its begin- 
ning we find traced amid the legends of our race, and even there, 
more distinct appears the story of "Ye ancient towne of Rye" 
than many of these gleanings from the lost records of human 
existence. * 



(a) King Richard I. granted Rye permission to build a wall about the town and 
March 28, 1 194, signed a Charter written on a small piece of parchment, only twelve inches 
long and three inches wide. This precious relic of the past still exists, after neaHy seven 
hundred years." "Ancient Rye," a lecture by Rev. A. T. Saville, 1890. See also Ilalloway 
"History," &c., p. 274, and Adams' "Guide to Rye." 



on 
les 
.-en 



31 



We have a heritage who live amid so many hallowed places 
made glorious by associations. Some day distant people of our 
country will seek these scenes, as now we visit the historic places 
of the world outside, and if we neglect to preserve and mark 
them well, we will have been unfaithful stewards of a trust. 




s^i^ 

Orwne ofHg 



C 239 89 'i 



32 



